Printing-press ink-ribbon mechanism.



W. E. KIER.

PRINTING PRESS INK RIBBON MEGHANISM.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 18, 1909.

Patented Feb. 7, 1911.

I/I/Il/[m Irv/Vania):

u 6 MM.

' esaaaa I form 13 isdotzked, The ink ribbon bearings clutching the ends of nn'rrnn srarns ra'rnnr orrren WILLIAM E. KIER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PRINTING-PRESS INK-RIBBON MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters' 'latent.

Patented-res a, rail,

Application filed August 18, 1909. Serial No. 513,442.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. ITIERLB. citizen of the United States, residing 1n Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented, a new and useful Improvement in Printing-Press Ink-Ribbon Mechanism, of which the following is a s'pecilicatio I My invention has for an object the providing of a practical and eflicient mechanism for supporting and automatically feeding an ink ribbon on a printing press such, for instance, as an ordinary Gordon press; and the invention has for further objects such other improvements in structure or function as may be'found to obtain in the device as hereinafter described or claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and in which like reference numerals indicate like parts in all of the figures, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional viewof an ordinary Gordon press equipped with the inking ribbon mechanism; Fig.2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the press illustrated in Fig. 1, to show. in fuller detail the construction and application of the ink ribbon mechanism; and Fig. 3 is a fragmentheir actuating device 10 is the stationaryfraine and 11 the swinging press bed of the Gordon press, the latter bearing the chase 12 in which the type spool 14 is pivotally lsupported on the downwardly extended arms 15 of the upward projections 16 of the swinging press bed,

the core of said spool with sufficient friction to so resist the unwinding as to hold the .ink ribbon taut; and the said unwinding ink ribbon 17,

of a width 'sufficient to cover the type form, is led forward over thepulley-roller 18, supported on the bracket arms 19, and down ward over and in contact with the type form and thence to and partly around the upper feed roller 20 and rearward and upward,'be-

tween said upper feed roller and the lower feed roller 21', to the winding roll 22. The two feed rollers 20 and 21 and the winding roller 22 are pivotally mounted on the brackets 23 that are bolted to the frame 2 1 that supportsthe chase on. the swinging press bed, the feed rollers being supported on the downwardly projecting arms 25 and the pivotal the winding roll on the rearwardly projecting arms 26 of said brackets. A twisted belt 27 connects a pulley on one end of the winding roller with a pulley 28 secured. on,

the corresponding end of the lower feed roller 21, so that rotation, in a reverse direction, is transmitted from said feed roller 21 to said winding roller 22, the belt sliding on the feed rollers if such sliding of the belt did not occur. The feed rollers 20 and 21 bite the ribbon firmly between them and restrict its step by step advance to an amount exactly proportional to the step by step angular movement of said rolls.. The upper feed roller 20 is rotated by the mere pressure contact of its periphery, through the interposed ribbon, upon the periphery of the lower feed roll 21, and the lower feed roll isrotated step by step by means of the ratchet 20 secured. upon the left hand end of said feed roller 21 and engaged by the pawl 30 pivotall-y borne on the upper or short arm of the pawl-lever 31 that is pivotally mounted on the shaft 32 of the lower feed roller, the lower end of said pawl-lever 31 being linked to the I shaft 33, on the stationary frame of the press, by the swinging link 34 whose lower end is freely mounted on the said shaft 33 and whose upper end is pivotally attached tosaid lower end of the pawl-lever 31. As the press bed 11 swings back and forth, moving the pivot of the pawl-lever-toward and away from the stationary frame of the'pr'ess,

a back and forth swinging movement is iniparted to said pawl-lever, the pawl being drawn back over the teeth of the ratchet as the press bed swings forward'and the lower end of the pawl-lever is pressed backward, and the pawl engaging the ratchet teeth and impelling such ratchet teeth rearward as the press bed swings backward and the lower end of the pawl-lever is drawn'forward,

This manner of feedin the ink ribbon, biting it between feed ro-lers that are located intermediate the ribbon spool and-the wind-j ingroll andare impelled in exactly uniform step by step movements, makes possible on exactly uniform and constant step by step advance of the ribbon over the type form,

so vthat after each printing impression exactly the same length of fresh ribbon is the roll on such roller progressively in creased as more and more ribbon was rolled upon it, and sothe ribbon, instead of'being advanced at a uniform step by step rate '-would be wound faster and faster, bringing a greater and greater length of fresh ribbon over the type form, as successive printing impression movements imparted successive step by step movements to such winding roller; and this continued variation in the amount of fresh ribbon drawn forward over the type form would result in variation of the clearness and intensit ,of the impressions printed from the llbbOIl,' destroying the essential uniformity of impression that must be obtained in press impressions from an ink ribbon. .Such objectionablelfeature ofthe old manner of feeding the ribbon is entirely overcome in the present device.

I The actuation of the feed rollers by a direct connection with the stationary frame of the press, instead of .by connections leading to moving parts of the swinging bed of the press, also insures an entirely positive feeding action. The locating of the feed rollers below the frame of the chase-causes the ribbon to be fed downward from the type form, so that the fresher ribbon will always be over'the upper part. of the type form, where the impression, in such a swin ing bed press,

always tends to be somewhat ighter, so that perfect uniformity between the upper and lower portions of each printed impression is insured.

, My invention is hereinabove set forth as embodied in one particular form of construction, .but I do not limit it thereto or to less than all the possible forms in which the invention as herelnafter claimed may be embodied and distinguished from prior devices for like purposes. a

1. In a printiiig-press, in combination: a stationary press frame and swinging pressbed; an ink-ribbon strip; ,a spool from which the ink-ribbon is unwound; a winding roll upon which the ink-ribbon is rewound; and a feeding mechanism intermediate said spool and said roll, automatically effecting a uniform step-.by-step advance of the inkribbon, said mechanism being uniformly impelled by direct connections between the said press-frame and press-bed; substantially as specified.

2. In a printing-press, in combination: a

stationary press-frame and swinging pressbed; an ink-ribbon strip; a spool from which the ink-ribbon is; unwound; a winding roll upon which the ink-ribbon. is rewound; and a feeding mechanism automatically effecting a uniform step by-step advance of the ink-ribbon, said mechanism in cludin a pair of feed-rollers that bite the ink-ribion intermediate said spool and said roll and are uniformly impelled by direct connections between the said press-frame and press-bed; substantially as specified.

3. In a printing-press, in combination: a stationary press-frame and swinging pressbed; an ink-ribbon strip; a spool from which the ink-ribbon is unwound; a winding roll upon'which the ink ribbon is rewound; a drive device maintaining a winding tension upon said winding roll; and a feeding mechanism intermediate said spool and said roll, automatically effecting a uniform step-bystep advance of-the ink-ribbon, said mechanism being uniformly impelled by direct connections between the said pressframe and press-bed; substantially as specified.

4. In a printing-press, in combination: a stationary press-frame and swin ing pressbed; an ink-ribbon strip; a spool om which the ink-ribbon is unwound; a winding roll upon which the ink-ribbon is rewound; a slipping drive-belt maintaining a winding tension upon said winding roll; and a feeding mechanismintermediate said spool and said roll, automatically effecting a uniform step-by-step advance of the ink-ribbon, said mechanism being uniformly impelled by direct connections between the said pressfiraime and press-bed; substantially as speci- 5. In a printing-press, in combination: a stationary press-frame and swin ing pressbed; an ink-ribbon strip;a s'pool rom which the ink-ribbon is unwound; a winding roll upon which the ink 'ribbon is rewound; and a feeding mechanism automatically effecting a uniform step-by-step advance of the ink-ribbon, said mechanism bein uniformly impelled by direct connections etween the said press frame. and 'press bed; substantially as specified.

6. Ina printing-press, in combination: a stationary press-frame and swinging pressbed; an. ink-ribbon strip; a spool from which the ink-ribbon is unwound; a winding roll upon which the ink-ribbon is rewound; and a feeding mechanism automatically effecting a uniform step-by-step advance of the inkribbon, said mechanism being uniformly impelled by direct connections between the said press-frame and press-bed,'the feedingmechanism being mounted on said swinging press-bed; substantially as specified. 7. In a printing-press, in combination: a press-frame and press-bed, movable relative to each other for the making of printing impressions; an ink-ribbon strip; a s 001 from whichthe ink-ribbon is linwouni a winding roll upon which the ink-ribbon is rewound; and a feedlngmechanism intermediate said spool and said roll, automatically effecting a uniform step-by-step advance of the inlcribbon, said mechanism be ing uniformly impelled by direct connections between the press-frame and press-bed; substantially as specified. v v a 8. In a printing-press, in combination: a press-frame and press-bed, movable relative to each other for the making of printing impressions; an ink-ribbon strip; a spoo from which the ink-ribbon is unwound; a Winding roll upon Which the ink-ribbon is rewound; and a feeding mechanism automatically effecting a uniform step-by-step advance of the ink-ribbon, said mechanism including a pair of feed rolls that bite the ink-ribbon intermediate said spool and said roll and are uniformly impelled by direct connections between the said press-frame and press-bed; substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM E. KIER.

Witnesses:

HENRY LOVE CLARKE, H. M. MUNDAY. 

